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by Shanti Swaroop Tripathi
- Producers: Kangana Ranaut, Umesh Kumar Bansal, Renu Pitti
- Writers: Kangana Ranaut, Ritesh Shah, Tanvi Kesari Pasumarthy
- Director: Kangana Ranaut
- Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Ashok Chhabra, Mahendra Chaudhary, Vishak Nair, Milind Soman, Satish Kaushik, Adhir Bhatt
- Duration: 2 hours 26 minutes
- Rating: 2.5 stars
Kangana Ranaut, who transitioned from being an actress to a writer and director, has created Emergency based on the life of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. While the film's title might suggest that it will focus on the 1975 Emergency declared by Indira Gandhi, the film actually spans from her childhood to her death, exploring both her personal and political life. Kangana, known for her support of Hindu nationalist ideologies and as a BJP supporter (she’s even a BJP MP now), has created a film that is surprisingly unbiased. This film does not accuse Indira Gandhi of everything that went wrong during her reign. Instead, it shows that she was not directly responsible for every misstep of her tenure. Ultimately, the film portrays Indira Gandhi as a leader who was far from being a villain, which is a refreshing take. The movie is based on Omi Kapoor's book Emergency: A Personal History and Jayant Vasant Sinha’s work.
Story
The film begins in Allahabad when Indira Gandhi (referred to as Indu in her childhood) is around seven or eight years old. At a family gathering, her aunt, Vijayalakshmi Pandit (Jawaharlal Nehru's sister), asks Indu's mother to step into a room, which displeases Indu. She demands that her aunt be removed from the house, and her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, mentions that only her grandfather, Motilal Nehru, can address the matter. When she goes to Motilal, he teaches her about power and strength. The story then shifts to Assam, where Indira Gandhi, during her time as a young politician, challenges China by focusing international attention on Assam, forcing China to retreat. Over time, we see significant events, including the 1971 India-Pakistan war, during which opposition leaders such as Jai Prakash Narayan (Anupam Kher) and Atal Bihari Vajpayee (Shreyas Talpade) respect Gandhi. However, four years later, Gandhi imprisons many of her opposition leaders. The story covers significant events like the Emergency, the rise of her son Sanjay Gandhi, Operation Blue Star, and her eventual assassination.
Review
In an attempt to cover nearly 65 years of Indira Gandhi’s life in just 2 hours and 26 minutes, the screenplay of Emergency is weak. Before the interval, the film feels like a low-budget documentary. However, after the interval, the film improves slightly. It traces Indira’s rise, her self-destructive phase, and her eventual liberation. However, the film fails to capture how young Indira’s behavior towards her aunt Vijayalakshmi shaped her political life. The film also doesn’t do justice to how her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, interacted with her—while she handled critical issues like Assam with maturity, Nehru’s refusal to appreciate his daughter’s actions left a mark on her. After entering politics, Indira’s power-hungry drive to become Prime Minister caused rifts within her party and opposition. The relationship between Indira and her son Sanjay Gandhi is well explored, particularly his domineering control over political decisions during her tenure.
Kangana clearly put in a lot of effort into this film, but her insistence on doing everything herself resulted in a somewhat disjointed narrative. There are moments where facts are not presented accurately, and the casting for various roles doesn’t do justice to the characters. In many scenes, the actors seem more like mimicry artists, over-exaggerating their roles. The film focuses more on Indira Gandhi’s personality and her leadership skills rather than the specifics of the atrocities committed during the Emergency, which is where the title of the film feels misleading. Nonetheless, the film offers a balanced view of Gandhi’s personal, political, and social life.
One of the standout lines in the film is, “When praise starts to cause pain, it’s a reflection that things aren’t right.” This line encapsulates the challenges Indira faced in her political journey, especially the pressures from both her own party and the international stage. Initially inexperienced, Indira quickly made her mark on both domestic and international politics, impressing leaders like U.S. President Richard Nixon and French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.
The film also captures Indira’s sharp wit, like the moment when, during a dinner with the French President, she cleverly asked for a piece of cake to be packed for later, while others were oblivious to the moment’s importance.
While watching the film, one cannot help but admire how the political landscape during Indira Gandhi’s era is portrayed. The intricacies of her relationships with her father, husband (Feroze Gandhi), son (Sanjay Gandhi), and close friends (like Pupul Jayakar) are presented, revealing a more emotional and vulnerable side of her character.
Acting
Kangana Ranaut, as Indira Gandhi, does not seem to fit the role. Throughout the film, she feels more like a caricature, at times resembling a mimicry artist. Her prosthetic makeup is also unconvincing. Indira Gandhi was known as the “Iron Lady,” but Kangana fails to reflect this strength in her portrayal. Mahima Chaudhary as Pupul Jayakar, Indira’s close friend and advisor, delivers a commendable performance. Supporting actors like Shreyas Talpade, Satish Kaushik, and Anupam Kher are good but fail to do justice to their roles, as they don’t fit their respective characters well.
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